Murray Leith

The President of the United States of America, everyone. How proud they must be…

What a photograph.

“Nearly two dozen arrested as faith leaders protested outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago…”

Arrested large amounts of peaceful clergy face first on pavement is a pretty good sign you’re not the good guys in the story. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

A mini schnauzer sitting on a couch

And Nemo has returned from his walk and is also resting.

Over the past week, the president said the DOJ should pay him a quarter billion dollars, bulldozed half the White House to build himself a gaudy ballroom, bragged about murdering civilians in international waters, pardoned some more criminals, directed federal prosecutors to indict his opponents ...

🇺🇸 “A federal prosecutor who resisted Trump’s demands to bring charges against Letitia James was fired along with her deputy Friday evening…”

As @saletan.bsky.social says: Authoritarianism is here.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...

Thank you for saying so. I was beginning to wonder if it was just me. Being a broad, interdisciplinary political scientist, the journey has sometimes felt a tad lonesome. We need the full range of skills and insights. If we are only talking to other political scientists then we are doing it wrong.

Preach!

Firstly, this is a really great thread on history, and a period that many Brits live to talk about in very general terms. I learnt a lot! Thanks @lvhicks.bsky.social. Secondly, the lesson inherent also seems so very applicable to politics today. #historyedu #politicsedu

A mugshot registration photograph from Auschwitz. A woman wearing a striped uniform photographed in three positions (profile and front with a bare head and a photo with a slightly turned head with a headscarf on). The prisoner number is visible on a marking board on the left.

3 July 1923 | A Polish woman, Helena Grzelec, was born in Porąbka.

In #Auschwitz from 28 January 1943.
No. 32034
She perished in the camp on 8 March 1943.

I think we need to say it louder for people in the back of the room, some of them clearly haven’t been paying attention!!

A poster about a research study CALLING ALL POLITICALLY ENGAGED WOMEN ! Share your voice on social media & Politics Are you active on social media and passionate about political conversations? We want to hear from you. £20 Amazon Voucher. Join our Online interview (Via Microsoft Teams) Duration: 40min - 1hr Location: Online (Via Microsoft Teams) Contact Details: danielle.kelly@uws.ac.uk Sign Up Now and let's Explore how your voice shapes the digital political landscape

Hey - one for you all the women of Bluesky! Are you politically engaged online? We would love to hear about your experiences for our study!

📣 Excited to launch our Vice-Chancellor's Studentships 2025! Eight funded #PhD studentships are available for an October 2025 start across our four academic schools.

Find out more and and apply: www.uws.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research-at-uws/vice-chancellors-studentships-at-uws/

You're invited!

➡️ First 100 Days of the Trump Presidency
📅 14 May, 4-5.30pm

Join Professor Murray Leith as he looks back over the first 100 days of the Trump Presidency 2.0.

Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uws-lecture-first-100-days-of-the-trump-presidency-tickets-1291229234399

Bear in mind that this (perhaps partial) intelligence cut off occurs AFTER Zelensky issued a de facto apology to Trump, which Trump publicly accepted. If Trump wanted Ukraine to lose and Russia to win, it would be hard to see how his actions would be much different right now.

First lecture always includes a statement (pretty much every year for past 25 years) that ‘the US constitution says exactly what the US Supreme Court says it says’. It used to be semi-humorous…

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943

ALABAMA: “A state autopsy has ruled that a Black man found hanging in an abandoned Alabama home in late September died by suicide — a conclusion that contradicts a private autopsy commissioned by Dennoriss Richardson’s family.” newschannel9.com/news/local/2...

Well, leaving aside the fact that a voting plurality cast their support for a convicted felon… There is no use sentencing him to prison. However, he has been found guilty and must be sentenced. Symbolic? Heck, yes, but it shows the depth of difficulty that democracy in the USA is in (and elsewhere).

Scottish breakfasts can come in numerous forms #Scotland #Tunnocks

Whaddya mean ‘not a healthy breakfast’? #holiday #breakfast

Well, not that I’m encouraging anything other than full engagement for this vote… I do love to see these media bubbles burst.

As a director of a centre called CMDCI, I endorse this message.

This one will have some fighting comments, but he isn’t wrong!

I always warn first year students ‘if you study social science then you will never look at the world the same way again’ and usually move onto ‘I did warn you’ two or three years later…

Hello, if you could add me please @laurahammond.bsky.social that would be much appreciated!

Covid corruption commissioner gets to work Tom Hayhoe's first task will be reviewing the £8.7bn of pandemic PPE that had to be written off.

Covid corruption commissioner starts fraud probe

Well I hope he gets a lot of our money back after the Tories and their PPE corruption..

And I also hope some of the profiteering wrong 'uns go to jail

Let's see.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Been there, done that!

To my US colleagues and friends, have a great Thanksgiving. As holidays go, it has always been one of my favourites, with the emphasis on family, friends, and general togetherness! Probably not so popular with the non-turkey lovers though…